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shudder

Well-known member
I'm just starting to dig through the whole ny no wave period (spurred by going further and further back with sonic youth). All three of those NY Noise compilations look super cool. Any recommendations on which I should pick up first??
 

soundslike1981

Well-known member
I'm just starting to dig through the whole ny no wave period (spurred by going further and further back with sonic youth). All three of those NY Noise compilations look super cool. Any recommendations on which I should pick up first??

I haven't heard the NY Noise comps, but I can recommend bands you should check out.

I tend to prefer the slightly less atonal parts of that time/place, stuff like Liquid Liquid, Y Pants, ESG, Arthur Russell, Lounge Lizards, the Del-Byzanteens, James Chance, Kid Creole, Walter Steding, Lizzy Mercier-Descloux, et al.

Right or wrong, I tend to consider Massacre one of the most dynamic, best No Wave bands, though they seem to be infrequently associated with the "scene" (probably because of Fred Frith being English?). Bigger name stuff like DNA, Mars, Branca, Teenage Jesus & The Jerks are obviously worth hearing, too (more on the early Sonic Youth tip, I guess). You might also dig Ike Yard, 8 Eyed Spy, the 'Just Another Asshole' compilation, the 'Anti NY' comp, Lydia Lunch's solo stuff, Theoretical Girls,

Also, highly recommend grabbing the 'TV Party' documentary (which is available as a torrent at the WFMU website) and 'Downtown '81'.

That first Sonic Youth EP is their best work, IMO, maybe matched by the first few albums.
 

shudder

Well-known member
wow, thanks. I still don't have the first SY EP (I only go back to Confusion is Sex), but I'll look out for it. "Slightly less atonal" sounds more down my alley too. I like what I've heard and read about the more "mutant disco" end of things...

blimey, there's just too much music!!!! I've also been meaning to look into that Arthur Russell everyone loves so much. I assume World of Echo is the starting point? (and does anyone else find it weird when you know about music without knowing the music itself? or does that just happen to me?)
 
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nomadologist

Guest
wow, thanks. I still don't have the first SY EP (I only go back to Confusion is Sex), but I'll look out for it. "Slightly less atonal" sounds more down my alley too. I like what I've heard and read about the more "mutant disco" end of things...

blimey, there's just too much music!!!! I've also been meaning to look into that Arthur Russell everyone loves so much. I assume World of Echo is the starting point? (and does anyone else find it weird when you know about music without knowing the music itself? or does that just happen to me?)

Shudder, World of Echo is good, but "Calling Out of Context" is definitely my favorite...
 

soundslike1981

Well-known member
wow, thanks. I still don't have the first SY EP (I only go back to Confusion is Sex), but I'll look out for it. "Slightly less atonal" sounds more down my alley too. I like what I've heard and read about the more "mutant disco" end of things...

blimey, there's just too much music!!!! I've also been meaning to look into that Arthur Russell everyone loves so much. I assume World of Echo is the starting point? (and does anyone else find it weird when you know about music without knowing the music itself? or does that just happen to me?)


'World of Echo' is a top 3 record all-time for me, so yes, I'd say start there. Though the music has little obvious relationship with anything NY or No Wave. Honestly almost none of his musical guises does, the Sleeping Bag Records disco stuff being the closest. As far as I know, he was coming from the Kitchen background, not hanging around at the Mudd Club (though he did have close ties with the Talking Heads and thus might've hung around CBGBs earlier on?). He's truly a world unto himself, everything at least warrants a listen. It's one of the happier things I've seen in the last few years, that he's finally getting appreciated.

You sound like you might've been my ideal recipient of the 1981 box I did a while back--you might try searching for it on P2P, as I'm not making it anymore myself. . .


Edit: Oh, and get that SY EP, asap. It's crazy how fully-formed they were--and makes pretty clear that they were hardly the first "alternative rock" band, but rather one of the last good post-punk/no wave bands (later sins in lazy indie sludgerock notwithstanding).
 

shudder

Well-known member
'World of Echo' is a top 3 record all-time for me, so yes, I'd say start there. Though the music has little obvious relationship with anything NY or No Wave. Honestly almost none of his musical guises does, the Sleeping Bag Records disco stuff being the closest. As far as I know, he was coming from the Kitchen background, not hanging around at the Mudd Club (though he did have close ties with the Talking Heads and thus might've hung around CBGBs earlier on?). He's truly a world unto himself, everything at least warrants a listen. It's one of the happier things I've seen in the last few years, that he's finally getting appreciated.

yeah, I also saw it's Woebot's #3 rekkid. I got the sense he wasn't really part of the noisy no wave set, and all writing on him seems to place him as a loner genius...

You sound like you might've been my ideal recipient of the 1981 box I did a while back--you might try searching for it on P2P, as I'm not making it anymore myself. . .
What's it called (i.e. what search terms should I use?)?, and where should I look?

Edit: Oh, and get that SY EP, asap. It's crazy how fully-formed they were--and makes pretty clear that they were hardly the first "alternative rock" band, but rather one of the last good post-punk/no wave bands (later sins in lazy indie sludgerock notwithstanding).

looking forward to it!
 
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nomadologist

Guest
bought this reissue on sat awesome! from the same period as ny noise but better i think

don't know, i love me some conrad schnitzler, but the ny noise comps are excellent, too. apples and oranges...

schnitzler's color albums are all being rereleased, i'm pretty sure. worth checking out.
 

polystyle

Well-known member
Another Gruen world

Conrad's 'Gruen' ( 'Green', i believe) was the one I heard part of that blew away so much of the ordinary 'bedroom electronic' one hears today ...

And yeah, Arthur Russell was not such a Mudd Club goer,
The Kitchen was just a good place at the right time , a bigger stage , some good stage tech,
more the whole 'performance' thing was going on there.
Still today, but erm, not so much great stuff programmed over there, but once in a while ...
something !

It was never easy to figure Arthur out , only a bit of his music was actually out while he was around and he always - always had his headphones on when entering or exiting the building on 12th St !
 
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